"The Cremaster cycle will never be available on DVD. 20 were created and distribuited to the highest bidders/collectors at nothing less than $100,000. "

That's absolutely obscene and stupid. Still hope it's not true, I would love to watch those and it's not like in small cities in not important Countries you have festivals were things like that are showed. Ok, video artists.... blah! A friend of mine say that messy divx copies can be downloaded with luck and patience of the 5 films, for us poor people.

jed_

05-05-2005, 11:31 PM

i don't have a problem with it; it's primarily an art work, not a film. It's not like everyone's out there going "why can't damien hirst make sharks in tanks available for everyone, i live in the provinces and can't see it".

The guggenhein section of "cremaster3" (a.k.a. "The Order" is available on DVD. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000A1HPL/002-7675163-9819255?v=glance)

francesco

06-05-2005, 11:15 AM

So if a dvd is made in 20 copies and cost more than 100.000 $ each is Art, otherwise is simply a movie. Now I have a better understanding of what Art is.

Omaar

06-05-2005, 11:53 AM

So if a dvd is made in 20 copies and cost more than 100.000 $ each is Art, otherwise is simply a movie. Now I have a better understanding of what Art is.

In a nutshell. I guess in a marketplace you can either sell 20 copies at 100,000 or 100,000 copies for $20, whatever works for your target audience.

Where'd you read about this anyway Francesco?

Jarre did that with music for supermarkets, different principle at work though. I guess countless people have chosen to do this.

Cremaster 1-5 played here recently but I missed the first one to go on an anti war protest. the protest was lame as, I should have seen the film and saved myself the $100,000 its going to cost me to see it on DVD.

francesco

06-05-2005, 02:53 PM

Where'd you read about this anyway Francesco?

Is in a internet search that a friend of mine found about this. It was born from the idea of trying to locate if DVDs of "Cremaster" and also the 'incomplete' complete "Riget/Kingdom" of Lars Von Trier were available. Both are not buit for different reasons.

Anyway if an artist choose to sell is films in DVD for only 20 people is really not the artist that i'm against, but the rich collector pig who drools in having exclusiveness to a piece of Art, but really he have the money, not the talent. Die art collectors die, films music and books should be available at reasonable price for everyone. Sculture and installations and such is a different level.

Omaar

06-05-2005, 11:13 PM

...... and also the 'incomplete' complete "Riget/Kingdom" of Lars Von Trier were available. Both are not buit for different reasons. .

I turned on the TV late at night a few weeks ago and they were playing this awful US adaption of the kingdom. Stephen King had something to do with it. Not recommended.

michael

07-05-2005, 02:50 AM

I turned on the TV late at night a few weeks ago and they were playing this awful US adaption of the kingdom. Stephen King had something to do with it. Not recommended.
Coincidentally I was looking at it in a video shop just this week. 'Kingdom Hospital'... just can't be any good, I'm sure.

hauntedbyhorribles

07-05-2005, 05:43 PM

i've seen a bootleg copy of part 1... let me emphatically say it's not worth it. i don't even really know if it'd be worth it on a nice DVD (maybe if you had some sort of killer home theater setup with a huge screen). basically you're watching something where a heavy load of the meaning (or interest, or whatever) is placed on the visuals, and seeing it on a small TV makes it rather pointless. it's like listening to some really nuanced ambient/minimalist composition on a cheap cassette player using the factory headphones. not all art can be portable, unfortunately.

i'll go check it out if it's playing in a theater, but i don't think you'll ever get me to watch it on video again (or without weed, for that matter).

KaBuT

10-05-2005, 12:35 PM

I saw the whole lot in one day (in numerical as opposed to chronological order), and allowed myself to get totally caught up in the visuals. You can't help it really in a cinema I suppose, 8hrs of film with two lines of dialogue - You come out buzzing and dying to chat about what you've just seen with others.

You'd probably lose this a bit watching it on telly at home, too easy to be distracted, when the pace slows to a crawl, instead of scouring the big screen for every detail, I'd probably have made myself a cuppa.

For what it's worth, Cremaster 1 was my pick of the bunch, I thought it was absolutely beautiful.

I'd certainly buy a DVD set of the Cremaster films, but more to look back and re-examine the films, not to replace the act of going to see them in a cinema, much in the same way people buy postcards of paintings in galleries.

No matter how clued up you are about the themes in the films, you'll be forever thinking - 'I bet there was something in Cremaster about that'.

zhao

18-05-2005, 12:21 AM

sure the visuals are amazing and it's great to sink into the quasi-mystical mood of these symbols-driven abstractions, there are some very interesting juxtaposition of images, and I have no problems with art using the means of hollywood. but (you knew there was going to be a but) the whole thing is a solipsistic, self indulgent, closed system. a closed system comprising, I suspect, nothing more than the artist's issues with his own masculinity. that would be my only critique of them, the fact that the meanings and symbology of films go round and round and do not open up to anything beyond themselves. they are open to interpretation, but only within their own peramiters, and have zero relevence to the universe at large. I mean if you gave Tim Hawkinson the same budget, he'd do a lot better. Mathew basically was able to do this because the velvet mafia in NYC liked his looks. an x-girlfriend of mine had a friend in college that slept with him, and she told her he had a very tiny penis.

mms

23-08-2007, 08:42 PM

this dude is a bit of a jodorowsky tribute no?

swears

23-08-2007, 08:51 PM

It's interesting the way he explores the idea that the world around us can be seen as one giant prosthetic for the human body. Either through the technology we use, or just the way we've evolved over millions of years to survive. I don't think it's simply pomo navel-gazing.

Gavin

23-08-2007, 11:19 PM

There's a documentary biopic of Barney called No Restraint. Haven't seen it though.

noel emits

24-08-2007, 12:14 AM

this dude is a bit of a jodorowsky tribute no?

In the same way that Franz Ferdinand are a Gang Of Four tribute.

No, that's interesting I never considered there to be a comparison at all. I suppose in therms of the sheer absurdity of vision, except I pretty much agree with zhao that Barney is a pseud with impressive funding, Jodorowsky definitely coming from a much more erudite and generous position. Jodo knows what he's doing with the symbols, Barney is a self-regarding dilettante. I watched the whole Cremaster series at a cinema over two days and it's a pretty mighty sustained effort, just ultimately a load of fascinating rubbish I think. Would definitely like to get part 3 on vid though.